Alibaba in hot water and Netanyahu before Congress — 5 things to know today

U.S. stock futures are slightly down this morning after a stellar showing Monday. Both the S&P 500 index and Dow Jones industrial average set records, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed above 5,000 for only the third time since the dot-com bubble of 2000.

Netanyahu will take to the floor of Congress this morning at the bequest of Republican leaders. He’s expected to reveal U.S. compromises made in its dealings with Iran in an effort to derail negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program. The Israeli Prime Minister fears that any compromise could lead to Israel’s nuclear annihilation. Netanyahu’s relationship with President Obama and the White House has grown increasingly tense as he undermines U.S. efforts to work with the Islamic nation. Secretary of State John Kerry is continuing those negotiations today when he meets with his Iranian counterpart in Geneva.

2. Alibaba in hot water in Taiwan.

Alibaba BABA crossed the line with Taiwanese officials after it violated investment rules by registering its business in Taiwan as a Singaporean entity, thus hiding its Chinese ownership. Alibaba was told to withdraw from the market within six months and fined $3,800. An Alibaba spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that the company set up shop in Taiwan in 2008, before the nation allowed investment by Chinese companies. Alibaba.com’s Singapore unit is a subsidiary of its Cayman Islands-registered Alibaba.com Ltd.

3. Did U.S. auto sales heat up in February?

U.S. auto sales numbers come out today, and analysts anticipate that last month was another good period for carmakers. New car sales could reach almost 1.3 million, an 8% boost compared to February last year, according to auto research company Kelley Blue Book. That would make February the 12th straight month of sales growth. General Motors GM is expected to maintain its lead in the market share battle with Ford F and Toyota TM coming second and third, respectively.

4. Springleaf buys Citigroup’s OneMain.

Subprime lender Springleaf LEAF will shell out $4.25 billion in cash for Citigroup’s consumer finance unit OneMain Financial. OneMain is part of Citi Holdings, the unit Citigroup C created during the financial crisis to hold its unwanted assets. It has been slowly selling or closing the units within Citi Holdings as the bank looks to focus on wealthier clients. OneMain provides small loans for unexpected personal expenses like medical bills or a new washing machine. OneMain will add to Springleaf’s reach with the growing number of non-prime customers.

5. Live from Beijing … it’s Saturday night!

After 40 years on U.S. televisions, “Saturday Night Live” will launch a Chinese version in partnership with Sohu.com, which operates video streaming sites. Sohu.com already streams the U.S. version to its Chinese viewers, but now they will have their very own show featuring comedians and musicians from across China. The deal was struck by Broadway Video Entertainment, a company created by SNL creator Lorne Michaels that also produces such shows as “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Portlandia.”

Happy Friday! Wall Street futures are little changed this morning, while European shares are mixed. Most Asian indexes remain closed for the Lunar New Year, though Japanese stocks continued their gains from yesterday.

Eurozone finance ministers are set to meet today to discuss Greece’s latest proposal to lengthen its loan agreement.

Here’s what else you need to know about today.

1. Eurozone leaders meet to discuss Greece’s fate.

Finance leaders from the eurozone’s leading countries meet today in Brussels to consider Greece’s bailout extension. Germany, which was initially not impressed by Greece’s revised proposal yesterday, has come around in talks today. Germany called the latest proposal a “good signal” even though it felt it still didn’t go far enough. A Greek official told Reuters that the nation had made many concessions and it’s time for European Union leaders to give up some ground.

Greece needs the deal in order to have enough money to operate their government, but the new left-leaning government has frustrated eurozone officials by abandoning strict austerity conditions demanded in its bailout package. Their 240 billion euro bailout expires this month, and Greece could run out of funds by the end of March if the current talks fall through.

2. 23andMe gains genetic test approval for single disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted 23andMe approval to sell its DNA tests for the detection of Bloom Syndrome, a rare genetic disease. The company had been ordered to take its DNA testing kit off the market by the FDA at the end of 2013 due to concerns of inaccurate results. This is the first time the FDA has approved a “direct-to-consumer” genetic test, and the agency said it would reclassify these over-the-counter tests so that they don’t need a premarket review. The approval is only for the single disease, but 23andMe hopes that it opens a path to approval for its full test.

3. Apple could have an electric car by 2020.

Start saving now — it looks like Apple’s aiming to produce its own electric car in as soon as five years, reports Bloomberg. It’s an aggressive timeframe. The established automakers typically take five to seven years to develop a new car. An Apple car would go head-to-head with Tesla Motors TSLA and General Motors GM, both of which are planning a 2017 release of an electric vehicle that can travel over 200 miles on one charge. GM and Tesla are aiming to charge less than $40,000 for the new models, making electric vehicles more widely accessible. Apple YNDX. Google’s Android operating system is the market leader in Russia, and Yandex says that it is increasingly using that market power to keep rivals from using its other services like maps and mail.“The openness of Android belongs to the past,” Interfax quoted Yandex’s complaint as saying. “The dependence of smartphone producers and developers on GMS has grown so much that Google can dictate the rules of the game.”

This isn’t a new complaint. It’s also part of the European Commission’s investigation into Google’s GOOG practices after competitors called for the company to be broken up.

Netflix soars and Davos starts — 5 things to know today

Wall Street’s stock futures are little changed this morning one day after the Dow was able to erase a triple-digit decline and close higher. European indexes are mixed, while Asian shares ended the day mostly higher. Oil prices are rebounding.

Traders are digesting President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, delivered late Tuesday, where he struck a defiant tone for his dealings with the new Republican-led Congress and called on his opponents to raise taxes on the rich.

Here’s what else you need to know for your day ahead.

1. Davos kicks off.

World leaders have descended upon Switzerland for day one the World Economic Forum. The annual five-day meeting will be attended by some 2,900 top business and government leaders, including a rare appearance by China’s premier Li Keqiang. He will deliver a keynote on China’s “new normal” of slower growth. Davos is still primarily a men’s club: Only 17% of attendees are women. Fortune talked with Barri Rafferty, CEO of Ketchum North American, about what Davos is like for its few female attendees.

2. Netflix is soaring.

Shares of Netflix NFLX are up sharply this morning — and were one of the most actively traded Nasdaq names in premarket trade — one day after the streaming video company said it is growing faster overseas than previously expected, a factor that was seen as offsetting slower growth in the U.S. It also posted an adjusted profit that was much stronger than expected.

3. S&P settles fraud allegations.

Standard & Poor’s has agreed to pay more than $58 million to settle charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which alleged the ratings company engaged in “fraudulent misconduct” in how it rated certain commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). The SEC’s action is the first-ever against a major ratings firm and requires S&P to take a one-year suspension from rating certain CMBS in addition to the monetary fine.

4. Microsoft reveals more about Windows 10.

Microsoft MSFT takes the stage today to present more details about its latest and greatest update to its Windows platform. The company first announced Windows 10 last September, but was vague about the specifics. More specs will be revealed today by CEO Satya Nadella and Windows chief Terry Myerson. There’s also talk that Microsoft will preview a new phone-laptop hybrid in an appeal to business users.

5. Alibaba’s getting into life insurance.

Alibaba Group BABA is making its way into the Chinese life insurance business, giving some the idea that the company is looking to disrupt the nation’s financial sector. Alibaba, along with a consortium of investors, participated in a $4.7 billion share purchase of China’s second-largest insurance company Ping An last month. The e-commerce giant is now looking to buy shares in the state-run New China Life Insurance Co., according to a local media report. There are no details on the size of the deal as of yet.

These are the top 10 geopolitical risks of 2015

This post is in partnership with Time. The article below was originally published at Time.com.

By Ian Bremmer, TIME

International stories rise and fall so quickly in today’s media. On Monday, it’s civil conflict in Ukraine. On Tuesday, it’s the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). By Wednesday, the headlines are on to something else. Amid the global whiplash, it’s easy to lose sight of the larger picture. So as the new year begins, it’s useful to take a broader look at where these stories are headed—and to track the next wave of market-moving surprises in international politics.

Every January Eurasia Group, the political risk consultancy I founded and oversee today, publishes Top Risks, a roundup of the geopolitical trends we consider most likely to change our world in the coming year. This ranking reflects our forecast of which global storylines are most likely to play out over the next 12 months, which will have biggest impact on the markets and politics—and where we can expect surprises.

In 2015, political conflict among the world’s great powers is in play more than at any time since the end of the Cold War. U.S. relations with Russia are now fully broken. China’s powerful President Xi Jinping is creating a new economy, and the effects will be felt across East Asia and the rest of the world. Geopolitical uncertainty has Turkey, the Gulf Arab states, Brazil and India hedging their bets.

But the year’s top risk is found in once placid Europe, where an increasingly fractured political environment is generating new sources of conflict.

1. The politics of Europe

European economics aren’t as bad as they were at the height of the eurozone crisis in 2012, but the politics of the continent are now much worse. Within key countries like Britain and Germany, anti-EU political parties continue to gain popularity, undermining the ability of governments to deliver on painful but needed reforms. Friction is growing among European states, as peripheral governments come to increasingly resent the influence of a strong Germany unchecked by weak France or absent Britain. Finally, a resentful Russia and an aggressive ISIS will add to Europe’s security worries.

2. Russia

Sanctions and lower oil prices have weakened Russia enough to infuriate President Vladimir Putin, but not enough to restrain his actions. Moscow will continue to put pressure on Ukraine, and as a result, U.S. and European sanctions will tighten. As Russia’s economy sags, Putin’s approval ratings will depend increasingly on his willingness to confront the West. Western companies and investors are likely targets—on the ground and in cyberspace.

3. The effects of China slowdown

China’s economic growth will slow in 2015, but it’s all part of Xi’s plan. His historically ambitious economic reform efforts depend on transitioning his country to a consumer-driven economic model that will demand levels of growth that are lower, but more sustainable. The continuing slowdown should have little impact inside China. But countries like Brazil, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand, whose economies have come to depend on booming trade with a commodity-hungry China, will feel the pain.

4. The weaponization of finance

For the moment, the American public has had enough of wars and occupations, but the Obama administration still wants to exert significant influence around the globe. That’s why Washington is weaponizing finance on a new scale. The U.S. is using carrots (access to capital markets) and sticks (varied types of sanctions) as tools of coercive diplomacy. The advantages are considerable, but there is a risk that this strategy will damage U.S. companies caught in the crossfire between Washington and targeted states. Transatlantic relations could suffer for the same reason.

5. ISIS, beyond Iraq and Syria

ISIS faces military setbacks in Iraq and Syria, but its ideological reach will spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa in 2015. It will grow organically by setting up new units in Yemen, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, and it will inspire other jihadist organizations to join its ranks—Ansar Bayt al Maqdas in Egypt and Islamists in Libya have already pledged allegiance to ISIS. As the militant group’s influence grows, the risk to Sunni states like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt will rise.

6. Weak incumbents

Feeble political leaders, many of whom barely won reelection last year, will become a major theme in 2015. Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos, South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Nigeria’s Goodluck Jonathan and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan will each face determined opposition and formidable obstacles as they try to enact their political agendas.

7. The rise of strategic sectors

Global businesses in 2015 will increasingly depend on risk-averse governments that are more focused on political stability than on economic growth, supporting companies that operate in harmony with their political goals and punishing those that don’t. We’ll see this trend in emerging markets, where the state already plays a more significant role in the economy, as well as in rogue states searching for weapons to fight more powerful governments. But we’ll also see it in the U.S., where national security priorities have inflated the military industrial complex, which now includes technology, telecommunications and financial companies.

8. Saudi Arabia vs Iran

The rivalry between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia is the engine of conflict in the Middle East. Given the growing reluctance of Washington and other outside powers to intervene in the region, increasingly complex domestic politics within these two countries and rising anxiety about the ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, we can expect Tehran and Riyadh to use proxies to fuel trouble in more Middle Eastern countries than ever in 2015.

9. Taiwan/China

Relations between China and Taiwan will deteriorate sharply in 2015 following the opposition Democratic Progressive Party’s landslide victory over the ruling Nationalist Party in local elections this past November. If China decides that its strategy of economic engagement with Taiwan has failed to advance its ultimate goal of reunification, Beijing might well backtrack on existing trade and investment deals and significantly harden its rhetoric. The move would surely provoke public hostility in Taiwan and inject even more anti-mainland sentiment into the island’s politics. Any U.S. comment on relations between China and Taiwan would quickly increase resentment between Beijing and Washington.

10. Turkey

Lower oil prices have helped, but President Erdogan has used election victories in 2014 to try to sideline his political enemies—of which there are many—while remaking the country’s political system to tighten his hold on power. But he’s unlikely to win the authority he wants this year, creating more disputes with his prime minister, weakening policy coherence and worsening political unpredictability. Given the instability near Turkey’s borders, where the war against ISIS rages, that’s bad news. Refugees from Syria and Iraq are bringing more radicalism into the country and adding to economic hardship.

Total faces fresh corruption charges over Iran contracts

Oil major Total SA is to face charges of corruption in France in relations to contracts with Iran in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

The news is a disappointment to the company, which had hoped to draw a line under the affair after paying $398 million last year to settle similar charges in the U.S. brought by the Department of Justice.

The DoJ had maintained that Total paid around $60 million in bribes between 1995 and 2004 to get contracts for two major Iranian oil and gas projects. After the deal, it had agreed not to prosecute the French group under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

De Margerie had been head of the group’s Middle East exploration and production unit at Total at the time the bribes were made. He had always insisted that neither he nor the company had broken French law.

There is no suggestion of any connection between de Margerie’s death and the decision by French prosecutors to bring the issue to trial. The FT reported that the judicial inquiry into the case had started in 2006.

Deadline on Iran nuclear talks pushed back till June

Negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program ended in a stalemate Monday, as the six-power group conducting the talks with the Islamic Republic pushed back the deadline for striking a final deal to next June.

The postponement means that Iran has won itself another seven months’ breathing space in which to carry on developing its program, in the face of western suspicions in that it wants to build a nuclear bomb. Teheran says it is only looking to use nuclear power in civil energy projects. The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency says it hasn’t been able to confirm this.

The talks aimed to lay any doubts about Iran’s intentions to rest, in return for loosening the sanctions that have hamstrung its economy. Hopes for a deal had risen after the more moderate Hassan Rouhani replaced the hardline Mahmoud Ahmedinajad as Iran’s President last year.

Western nations agreed to relax sanctions against Iran in July in exchange for new limits on the program and an extension of talks on a final status agreement until this Monday.

Ministers will now resume negotiations next month and aim to wrap up a deal within three to four months, according to Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.

Hammond told the BBC that the failure to reach a deal was “a disappointment, but rather than continue blindly, we have to recognise the reality that we’re not going to make a deal tonight.”

With a final deal still pending, Iran will still be allowed to access $700 million a month in oil assets that were frozen under U.S. sanctions, the BBC reported.

The political backdrop in the Middle East has changed rapidly since the parties made a breakthrough on talks last year.

This year has seen Iran and the U.S. work together–if only informally–to combat the Sunni jihadi movement Islamic State in Iraq. However, any rapprochement between the two–and indeed, a broader deal on lifting sanctions–looks less likely after the Republicans took control of the Senate in mid-term elections earlier in November.

What you need to know about today’s broken Iran talks

Like any high-wire negotiations, the Iran nuclear talks that blew through a second deadline today have a complicated—and evolving—back story. Behind them are an American president’s hunger for a foreign policy legacy, a shifting geopolitical terrain that puts two enemies on the same side of the war against ISIS—and a secret letter enraging Obama critics, including Israel, who fear he won’t halt Tehran’s march toward nuclear weapons.

Right now it appears today’s deadline will be extended, making this a good day to step back and put the talks in perspective, which I recently did with Danielle Pletka, veteran Middle East watcher and senior vp at the American Enterprise Institute. I interviewed Pletka for the latest episode of the iTunes podcast Smart Women Smart Power at the Center for Strategic and International Studies:

To set the stage on Pletka’s analysis, here is a succinct excerpt from Reuters this morning describing what’s at stake:

The talks in Vienna aim for a deal that could transform the Middle East, open the door to ending economic sanctions on Iran and start to bring a nation of 76 million people in from the cold after decades of hostility with the West.

The cost of failure could be high. Iran’s regional foes Israel and Saudi Arabia are watching the Vienna talks nervously. Both fear a weak deal that fails to curtail Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, while a collapse of the negotiations would encourage Iran to become a threshold nuclear weapon state, something Israel has said it would never allow.

In print and on TV, Pletka been a salty-tongued critic of the Obama White House. (In a blog post she recently accused the President of trying to “suck up” to Iran by failing to remove its client, Syrian President Bashar al Assad. More on that below.) That said, her views reflect widespread skepticism about the Iranian regime’s intentions in the talks between Iran and six world powers that were put on hold in Vienna today.

Pletka argues that Iran’s hand was strengthened by a dramatic turn of events this year: Specifcally, the rise of the terrorist group ISIS, which found fertile ground in the chaos of Syria’s civil war and now controls a third of Iraq, including the country’s second largest city, and threatens Bagdad.

The rise of ISIS puts the U.S. and Iran on the same side of a military campaign against a terrorist group that threatens not only the Middle East, but also U.S. and Western targets. Even as the American military conducts air strikes against ISIS, Iranian forces are on the ground in Iraq and Syria battling the terror group (and not very successfully, Pletka notes).

“Sure we have common enemies. But the enemy of my enemy is my friend is not a good guide post for foreign policy,” says Pletka as she ticks off the names of Iranian-backed terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. “Instability is very appealing to the Iranians. They have no desire to see a stable, strong, independent Iraq on their border.”

The same, she adds, goes for Syria—and that’s where we get back to Pletka’s charge that the White House is “sucking up” to Iran, hoping for more cooperation in the nuclear talks. Despite the President Obama’s proclamation that “Assad must go,” the Syrian strongman and Iranian ally remains in power—a source of frustration even to many Democrats.

Pletka goes a step farther, arguing that if the U.S. had been willing to destroy those air bases earlier—and with them, Assad’s ability to drop bombs and chemical weapons on his enemies—“we would have never had to deal with the rise of ISIS.”

Instead, Pletka charges, the administration chose “to downplay hostility toward Assad in order to make nice with the Iranians for this strange bank-shot on the Iranian nuclear negotiations. [That is], if we let them keep their pal in Syria, then maybe they’ll think we’re good guys who understand their strategic priorities and they’ll give up their nuclear weapons program.” The failure to force out Assad has also contributed to Turkish resistance to helping in the war against ISIS, she adds.

“All because the president thinks he’s playing this particularly clever card with the Iranians,” says Pletka. “It’s a huge mistake.”

Two weeks before the Monday deadline, news reports revealed that President Obama had written a secret letter to Iran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei describing the U.S.-Iran shared interest in fighting ISIS, apparently hoping to encourage a Tehran to agree to a deal in the nuclear negotiations. Pletka called this letter—the President’s fourth to the Ayatollah—a “dangerous choice…like a spurned girlfriend’s notes to her unresponsive boyfriend…I think it also has that vibe to the Iranians.”

By the way, MPW watchers: The lead U.S. negotiator on the Iran talks is a woman to watch—Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs and now acting deputy Secretary of State. An appointee of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sherman will be in a glaring spotlight if and when a deal with Iran is reached. She served under President Clinton in the 1990s, where she was a lead negotiator with North Korea over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program.

“From the MPW Co-chairs” is a series where the editors who oversee the Fortune Most Powerful Women brand share their insights about women leaders.

U.S. veterans sue banks, claim they should pay for Iraq attacks

NEW YORK, Nov 10 (Reuters) – Wounded U.S. veterans and family members of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq sued five European banks on Monday, seeking to hold them responsible for shootings and roadside bombings because they allegedly processed Iranian money that paid for the attacks.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, named Barclays Plc, Credit Suisse Group AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc.

The banks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit was brought under the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act, a 1992 law that permits victims to bring private suits against alleged financiers of militant operations.

Brought on behalf of more than 200 veterans and family members, the lawsuit alleges the banks conspired with Iranian banks to mask wire transactions in order to evade U.S. sanctions. The Iranian banks then funneled more than $100 million to militant groups that operated in Iraq at Iran’s direction, according to the suit.

The militant groups included a Shi’ite militia in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, as well as Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the suit says.

Since 2009, the five banks have agreed to pay about $3.2 billion to the U.S. government to resolve allegations that they handled money in violation of sanctions against nations such as Iran, Libya and Cuba. All the banks signed deferred prosecution agreements with the U.S. Justice Department in addition to settlements with U.S. banking regulators.

In a statement issued after its 2012 agreement with U.S. prosecutors and banking regulators, HSBC said it accepted responsibility for “past mistakes.” Standard Chartered, which also reached an agreement in 2012, emphasized that it was cooperating with U.S. authorities.

The agreements did not allege a link between the transactions, which the U.S. government viewed as unlawful, and militant operations.

Some bankers have expressed resentment at the long reach of U.S. policies. In a 2006 email quoted in the complaint filed on Monday, a London-based Standard Chartered manager told a colleague, “Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we’re not going to deal with Iranians?”

Patrick Farr, a California-based plaintiff whose son Clay was killed by a roadside bomb in February 2006, said the lawsuit has given him “a sense that I was able to do something, hold someone accountable for his death.”

UNIQUE USE OF 1992 LAW

The suit is the first case under the Anti-Terrorism Act in which former U.S. soldiers seek damages against international banks. It is also one of the first to be crafted as a conspiracy case.

The lawyers who filed the suit, Gary Osen and Tab Turner, were part of a team that tried an Anti-Terrorism Act case against Arab Bank earlier this year in Brooklyn.
Jurors found Arab Bank liable for financing 24 Hamas attacks in Israel and the Palestinian Territories between 2001 and 2004.

That case linked Arab Bank specifically to wire transfers to alleged Hamas leaders and payments to Palestinians killed, injured and imprisoned in the anti-Israel uprising.

The new lawsuit does not assert a direct connection between the European banks and the allegedly Iran-directed attacks carried out in Iraq. Instead, the complaint claims that the banks indirectly facilitated the attacks by entering into agreements with Iranian banks to mask U.S. dollar wire transactions sent through the United States.

“Each defendant understood that their conduct was part of a larger scheme engineered by Iran,” Osen said in an interview. At a minimum, he said, the banks were “deliberately indifferent” about the transactions they processed for Iran.

The case’s theory of a conspiracy under the Anti-Terrorism Act has not previously been tested in court.

Osen said that through press accounts, declassified U.S. military reports and documents posted by WikiLeaks, he built a file on attacks on U.S. forces that were traceable to Iran. One of the boldest attacks took place in January 2007, when attackers dressed as American soldiers infiltrated a compound in Kerbala, Iraq, and killed five U.S. military personnel.

Osen said he sent a letter to the father of one of the soldiers killed in Kerbala, Johnathan Millican. He eventually traveled to Alabama to meet Mitchell Millican, who agreed to serve as a plaintiff. A soldier wounded in Kerbala, Billy Wallace, also signed on.

Charlotte Freeman, whose husband Brian was one of the soldiers killed in Kerbala, said she and her mother-in-law decided to join the case to make a statement. “I never suspected these big banks would turn a blind eye,” she said. “Even if the case doesn’t get that far, at least the story is told. It needs to be exposed.”

(Reporting by Alison Frankel; Editing by David Ingram and Ross Colvin)

With access to Twitter and Facebook FB officially banned in the Islamic Republic, Iranians have to find other ways to bypass the state’s Internet filtering system. That’s if they’re not the country’s president, who is a prolific tweeter and apparently has unfettered access to the social network. But Costolo’s tweet isn’t just a muted form of digital social activism; it’s a pragmatic defense of his company’s business interests in Iran.

Rouhani doesn’t appear to have responded yet to Costolo’s tweet, which may be because it’s just too hard to come back from a tweet like that.

Iranian President Rouhani criticizes U.S. airstrikes against ISIS

This post is in partnership with Time. The article below was originally published at Time.com.

By Noah Rayman, TIME

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized U.S.-led airstrikes against militants in Iraq and Syria during a speech at the United Nations on Thursday, calling for regional countries to lead the operation instead.

However, Rouhani said Iran can reach a deal over its nuclear program before the November deadline if Western negotiators are willing. He added that such a deal could open the door to “cooperation at regional and international levels, allowing for greater focus on some very important regional issues such as combating violence and extremism in the region.”

Rouhani has sought to warm chilled relations with the West since he took office more than a year ago, but he has recently questioned U.S. President Barack Obama’s effort to foster international support for U.S.-led airstrikes against the Sunni militants known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, or ISIS.

“Since the pain is better known by the countries in the region, better they can form a coalition,” Rouhani told the UN General Assembly.

The Iranian president, widely seen by the West as a moderate, has also come under fire for the July detainment of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, a dual citizen who was jailed with his wife.

In part due to the recent tensions, it’s unlikely that Obama and Rouhani will repeat the act of detent that occurred last year when the two leaders spoke over the phone while the Iranian president was in New York City. Still, Rouhani did meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday — marking the first time that Britain’s and Iran’s leaders met in 35 years — for what Rouhani said in a tweet was a “constructive and pragmatic dialogue.”